Maxwell continued to look at his holy ritual monster, Updawarra, for a moment longer, then turned away from it, as it was finally time to know his fate. As all his focus had been on completing his holy task, he would know in the next few moments whether or not he continued to do work in the name of Phabium and the rest of the monster pantheon or he was slain by the grass pixie's sword hero.

  He turned his senses to see what his fate would be, and Maxwell saw that the pixie hero swordsman was now a fine red paste instead of leaping at him as he more than half expected. Maxwell found intense relief for a moment and let himself go just for a moment, doing nothing as he let himself feel the joy of knowing he would continue to exist and do good work. Then the moment was over, and it was time to get back to the task at hand.

  He looked over his kingdom of necrotic smog and was pleased as it was already repairing itself. All three of his slain generals roam the land once more with their armies. The outpost and walls destroyed by the invading grass pixie hero swordsman were already repairing themselves, with the first to fall to his assault nearly done repairing all the damage. In fact, from what he could see with his necrotic magic senses, the underground of his kingdom hadn't even been touched.

  This was rather great news, though no doubt Maxwell thought more than a few of those serving in his kingdom would have rather negative views on this whole event. He would have to see what he could do to help with his generals Bunet, Horter, and the Miserable Rage Catapult's mental state. As he had no doubt they would have some trauma after being cut apart, they were helpless but to slow down the invading hero.

  Though that would have to wait as he had congratulations to give out to both his elite guards and his new grass elemental undead lords. They both stood gathered around the pasty remains of the once unstoppable pixie hero, proving their involvement in his death. He would get the details of the exact battle that took place in time, but before now there was one thing that must be done here and now.

  "Thank you." Maxwell said his voice was made up of necrotic magic passing through all those in his lands. He gave thanks to all who stood against the grass pixie hero swordsman in his name. He gave thanks to those who were slain trying and those who succeeded in stopping the invading hero. All undead of the necrotic smog kingdom felt their ruler and creator's gratitude for being saved through his words made of his necrotic magic.

  All of them to the last felt pure pride and joy at the thanks from Maxwell. Well, those grass pixies of the nine different clans now a part of the kingdom of necrotic smog felt true despair. As they too felt Maxwell's feeling of gratitude, they passed his message through it. Their hero was dead, and with it any hope they had of getting back their homes and being freed of their new king.

  Maxwell looked around his realm and thought about what he should do. His realm had been under constant threat from the grass pixies. This meant he had based his every decision on either what he needed to do to counter the grass pixie's latest attack or what he could do to serve Phabium. This no longer needed to be the case, as the grass pixies had sent a hero at him, which, as far as he was aware, was everything they had.

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  Their armies were broken, their elders no longer have the magical might they once had, and their hero is now very dead. So now the grass pixies would no longer take up his time as a threat he needed to respond to. Which was good, as he had other things to focus on, mainly his own kingdom, as he had a rather interesting problem that had made itself known with the slaying of the grass pixie hero swordsman.

  Which was that he didn't actually have a major city. As it was, he had nine territories with a capital village in each but no capital city or even just a basic city for his kingdom of necrotic smog. This was first due to the fact that he hadn't actually intended to grab the territory he got, as the army he ended up beating was made up of the entirety of the nine pixie clans. So when he beat them all at once, all of their territory became his, which he had not been expecting.

  Then, to add to his problems, his building projects within his own original territory had been rather short. He had built a few outposts and a wall around himself, but he had ended up putting more effort accidentally into the underground network than he had into his holdings above ground. This could not continue, as first he was a nation of the undead; how could he not have a proper necropolis as his capital?

  Second, such a city would have given him, no doubt, much in the way of defensive power. This would have helped in the crisis the grass pixie hero swordsman created with his invasion. For a third reason, other fey nations that were bordering his lands would no doubt look down on him if he did not have a single functional major city. So making a necropolis would be an excellent way to make them think twice about attacking.

  So it was that Maxwell would build a necropolis around himself so that hopefully so much sacrifice would not be as required for the next assault by a hero of the fey that comes for him. This also doubles as a reward, for he has three elites that have proven themselves, so he will use them in basing his construction, and what is a lord without a manor?

  Now Maxwell has a plan to both further fortify his kingdom and reward his protectors. So all that was left was to tell them this. "You have defended me against the greatest of odds and emerged victorious. So to reward this and to make sure such great sacrifices are not required again, I will build a city. A capital of our kingdom and have a building made of each of you in your honor among its structures." Maxwell said in his voice of necrotic magic, carrying as much seriousness and authority as he could muster.

  The three elites were all happy and thankful for such an honor. Though their feelings paled in comparison to the grass elemental undead lords. For they had fought not just to save Maxwell but had proven him right. That the undead grass elementals had worth as they had failed to show their worth by stopping any grand invasion by the grass pixies, as that had always been done by either the zombies or the war machine catapults that is until now.

  So to know that they had not only gained recognition for their deed of gaining the rare title of hero slayer but would also be granted the privilege of being a part of the capital city that would house their creator and ruler. They felt happiness in great amounts, which was strange to them, as Red Razor Armory embodied rage as well as undead grass. Well-hidden blue tears embodied misery along with undead grass, so to have both feel happiness so greatly was a strange thing to behold.

  As in his happiness, Red Razor Armory kept charging at everything in sight, leaving deep holes in the earth from his countless red grass blades. While hidden, Blue Tear cried endless tears of joy, which, sensing her tears were acidic, began digging a trench around her as the acid-happy tears burned their way through the earth. So it was to this spectacle that the building of the capital of the necrotic kingdom of smog and its first necropolis began.